Pizza??? What Pizza? I saw lots of paople carrying 3 or 4 or more pizza boxes down Ocean Blvd. (none of them were wearing a bib or a metal) as I was heading to the finish line but there was no pizza for me. How did this happen? My only other complaint - being jabbed by elbows, shoved to the side, and run over by people trying to get to the front at the start line. And I am talking 5 or 6 or more people one right after the other. Rude! I was in wave 5 and there were many people literally knocking people aside to get to a wave closer than 5. Please - your time starts when you cross the start line. Relax! I love this Marathon and am already planning on being there next year. Love you Long Beach!

So to add to my list of complaints now. I specifically recall de-checking the box to receive e-mails from Active.com and have a continual string of messages with no unsuscribe option. So I have to come back to this web site to do so. My fault. I thought offering an opinion to help improve the ICB marathon experience would benefit ICB. I already know that every finisher was going to complain about the post-race issues. The only way you couldn't is if you 1, Did not check a bag or bike; 2, did not park at the race; 3, did not need to cross the bridge or walk back to the convention center to leave and 4, did not want any pizza afterwards. So I really did not desire to hear about time and again, exponentially. Just something else to work on, I guess. Ü

This was the first year I ran this event... overall it was alright. Scenic and flat course. Once you got to the harbor and the boardwalk I felt like I was weaving in and out of traffic around way to many people!! I normally pace at an 8 min or faster mile and felt as too many slower people were up ahead of me even though I started in wave 2. My biggest complaint is the bag check! Incredibly disorganized!! It took 30 min to find my bag that was put in the wrong area even though it was clearly labeled with my bib number on it... I?m normally a very patient person... I had to walk into the bag check area and search for my own bag which I eventually found myself! Overall it?s a good event it but I personally believe its size is outgrowing the area and that needs to be addressed

I've run the half marathon since '04 and this was my first time doing the full marathon here. I normally do a half in under 1:30 and the full under 3:30. The most aggravating part of the race was the finish for me. The course combines for the last 2 miles and after 24 miles the last thing I want to do is have to weave around people like at the start of the race. The course should either be better separated on the street or they should not combine until the last turn to the finish. Also, I thought in years past they had clocks at least at some of the mile markers. This year there were exactly 2 timers, the start and the finish. For an event of this size, it is unacceptable. I will not be doing the full marathon again in Long Beach.

This was my first 1/2 Marathon... I had a great day! I did find it odd that Pizza and beer were my options (and I did see more non-eventers with boxes than actual runners), so I too went elswhere. But I would have to say I was a bit puzzled as to why every port-pottie I used was without toilet paper... I have been to many large events, and I know you can RESTOCK those things... But besides those two issues, for me it was a great experience. Thank You!

This was my first 1/2 Marathon... I had a great day! I did find it odd that Pizza and beer were my options (and I did see more non-eventers with boxes than actual runners), so I too went elswhere. But I would have to say I was a bit puzzled as to why every port-pottie I used was without toilet paper... I have been to many large events, and I know you can RESTOCK those things... But besides those two issues, for me it was a great experience. Thank You!

This was my first Long Beach half-marathon having just moved from Texas. I have to echo some of the earlier comments about the race outgrowing the course. I was set to PR at this event, but spent the entire race weaving, surging and being slowed by walls of slower runners and walkers. Not until mile 10 was I able to break away as the course widened. The course itself was reasonably scenic, but most of my view was looking for holes in crowds. Compared to the Texas races I've done, this one was frustrating. Why not provide some way for runners to get to their wave start instead of being crammed into a small space with no where to walk? Too may non-participants were crowding the starting area making it even more difficult to walk to the start. I don't know if I'll do this race again.

As a Legacy runner, what can I say " I Love this Marathon!!! " I will continue to run Long Beach till my legs can't carry me anymore. I love my angel of mercy and grace Audry Hauth, who has always been there for us Legacy runners. I told her at the VIP reception that she was the main reason I keep coming back. I also look so forward to seeing Rudy, our announcer and host every year. It just wouldn't be the same without Rudy!

Thank you all for putting together the best marathon in the country!! LA look out! cause LB is hot on your tail!!

As a Legacy runner, what can I say " I Love this Marathon!!! " I will continue to run Long Beach till my legs can't carry me anymore. I love my angel of mercy and grace Audry Hauth, who has always been there for us Legacy runners. I told her at the VIP reception that she was the main reason I keep coming back. I also look so forward to seeing Rudy, our announcer and host every year. It just wouldn't be the same without Rudy!

Thank you all for putting together the best marathon in the country!! LA look out! cause LB is hot on your tail!!

This was my first Long Beach half-marathon and my 2nd half-marathon. I both enjoyed it as well as found it frustrating. I'm echo'ing a lot of what's been said before but here are my own experiences:

- Picking up the bib and check-in was easy to get to and there was amble space for the exhibit. The shirt was nice and they let us try it to make sure it was the right size. The bag was not very durable (my boyfriend's broke while at the event and had to get a new one) and it was confusing on how you'd get your number on the bag to differentiate it from the others. Parking was expensive at $10.

- The prior evening carbo load dinner was great. Great setting on the Queen Mary, nice communal area to meet other runners and interact, and great intro to the MC and key organizer. The food variety could have been better but there was salad, 3 pasta options and 2 dessert options.

- The morning of was chaotic. There was a long line at bag check to write down your bib number on the Jetblue luggage tags. Should have known that picking it up later would be an even bigger nightmare.

- Bathroom stalls ran out of toilet paper and were all bunched up in one location.

- The starting line didn't allow for different wave folks to enter into their waves. Everyone had to go in from the back so even though we were due to start in wave 1, we started with wave 5 and had to break through the crowds of people.

- The course itself was scenic and flat. The spectators were great and were found all along the course. The water availability throughout the course was also great. In some water areas, they were offering it on both sides of the track which was nice.

- The weather was also just perfect. It drizzled a little when I hit the beach area but was just ideal all the way.

- The finish line was confusing with the big Michelob thing only to get closer and figure out that it wasn't the finish line.

- The medal is awesome! It's got a great weight on it and even the strap was very pretty. I was definitely very proud to wear it afterwards

- The food distribution post-race was not well organized. The banana/apple/small bar offering in the food bag was consistent and easy to get through but didn't offer a lot of substance. Lots of spectators were carrying pizza which we found later was further back so we didn't even try. We did manage to get a salmon salad which was also lying around in boxes with no one distributing it.

- The bag pick-up was an absolute nightmare! It took us about an hour of waiting in line, waiting for the volunteer to find our bag and finally finding our bag ourselves in a totally disconnected area from where it was supposed to be. The poor volunteers were getting very frustrated themselves and trying to keep the crowd from getting the bags themselves. If we hadn't tried to find it, we might still be waiting for our bag 2 hours later. Recommendation is to do what SF Marathon did. They set the bags in small groups of numbers and let the people pick up their own bags in an orderly fashion.

- After the long wait, it also was not clear how often the buses or shuttles would run so we had to walk a mile back to our hotel and rush to check out by noon.

Glad that I finished this beautiful course and hit a personal best time. However, I probably wouldn't run this race again.

This was my first 1/2 and I thought the experience was positive, and very memorable. Sure maybe there were too many people overall, making things difficult to control in some areas. (yes the lines afterward and the baggage claim).

Pre-race, the website was extremely helpful, as was having updates and answers on Facebook. As suggested online, we arrived early enough to beat traffic into the city and our pre-paid parking worked out great. The course itself was scenic, and the only problems I had were with the walls of walkers blocking the path. There was one group in particular who would walk 6 across, then when they were ready to run again would push past others. Very rude, but then I did read that on the website, that walkers were only to walk single-file on the far right. That isn't the fault of the organizers, just rude inconsiderate people. The crowds were great! Especially towards the end when I needed it most, there were a couple of memorable women cheering us on! The volunteers handing out water and Powerade were the best and I can't thank them enough for giving up their Sunday to make our run better. Also, around mile 10 it was a wonderful relief to have the Kool-n-Fit sports spray for my sore legs. I've never tried it before and it really did help! Post-race, the chocolate milk was great! That's one thing I have after all of my long training runs, so I was especially happy to see it after the race. I know that like others mentioned, as I neared the finish line I saw lots of people walking away with boxes stacked high and was wondering what they were. I didn't know they were pizza snacks intended for the runners! Oh well, I did bring cash and bought some chicken soft tacos.

My complaints are the same as all of the others here; the lines were dreadful, and it was PAINFUL after running that distance. We waited across the street quite a while afterward so that the baggage claim lines would lessen, and we still ended up waiting a good 20 minutes to get my bag.

Overall, it was an incredibly positive and fun race! I do plan on coming back!

I have run the marathon and half marathon many times over the years and this year's event was the best ever. Really has been a joy to see this event improve and evolve over the years from a so-so local event to a major big time experience. In all aspects - expo, race-shirt, support, sponsorship, course, crowd, vibe, web site, experience - its really well done. Keep it up - keep improving. Also great to have the bike event too - that's really well done and offered my wife a cool experience too.